


Secrets of Moonshadow Haven

by RosettaStarlight



Category: No Fandom, Original Work
Genre: Brother-Sister Relationships, Character(s) of Color, Dark Magic, Demons, Family, Family Issues, Family Secrets, Female Character of Color, Friendship, Ghosts, I Don't Even Know, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I really hope this isn't too many tags, Magic, Male Character of Color, Multi, My first original work on this site, Mystery, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Original Non-Binary Character - Freeform, Other, Supernatural Elements, Twins, is this too many tags?, multi-ethnic character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2020-05-19 05:17:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19350250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RosettaStarlight/pseuds/RosettaStarlight
Summary: Hideo Tanaka has spent years determined to uncover the mysteries of his town. Now his niece has arrived, and despite his efforts, she seems just as determined to pull back the curtain on the show put on to fool those passing by.Ten years ago when Hideo was a teenager, a mysterious fire burned the Valek household down to the ground, leaving only the twins alive. Since, he's been set on discovering the truth of dangerous and inexplicable things starting to happen in Moonshadow Haven. However, it seems the more he finds, the more he realizes not everything is what it seems and one thing you can't trust is your own eyes. His search is paused, however, when his niece Suna and her friend Angel stay in town for the summer. How can he keep them safe from the town's deceits when no one sees what he sees, much less believe him?Expecting a boring summer, Suna Sinclaire instead finds a journal detailing the strange supernatural phenomena of Moonshadow Haven her uncle's kept over the years. The longer she stays and searches for the truth and Angel drifts further and further away under the sway of Michael Valek, she realizes she'll need to figure out just who she can trust if she wants to keep her head.





	Secrets of Moonshadow Haven

For ages, Claudia and Michael Valek had been under the watchful eyes of those in Moonshadow Haven. The Valek twins were...odd to say the least. The younger tried to hide it, but the elder thrived in the rumors surrounding their lives. Not one thing seemed normal about them, and everyone could sense it, from birth it seemed. But the talk all started with the fire.

When the Valek twins were six years old, a fire started in their house. Some thought the twins' parents started the fire on purpose because they feared their own children, stemming from the mysterious deaths and accidents occurring in their home. Others thought that someone set the fire out of anger or jealousy, or that it was some sort of freak accident. Nothing had been uncovered about the case in years. The police gave up on the mystery fire before the investigation ever began. It was impossible to tell how it started, only that it began in the children's room.

And yet although their parents perished, not even a body remaining to identify, the twins survived unscathed, not so much as a single scratch on them.

For a short amount of time, their grandmother took them in, but eventually she passed them off to an uncle. Like other family members, she wanted nothing to do with a pair of peculiar children who survived a mystery fire.

With a small town such as Moonshadow Haven, rumors traveled quicker than lightning. And though people tried to ignore the strangeness surrounding the Valek twins, there was one who had never been able to let it go, and who suspected it to be part of something much grander and complex than everyone else believed.

Perhaps that was because he had been there that night, the one who found the twins outside their house as it burned to the ground. After all, if one thing could be sure of from that fire....

It was not  _natural_.

* * *

 

_Floorboards_ _creaked_ _as the woman made her way to the bed closest to the door where her son Michael slept. As usual, his older twin_ _Claudia_ _slept propped up against the_ _bed frame_ _as her head rested on the mattress, one hand clutching his as if her brother was the only real thing keeping her tethered to the earth, and if she let go, she would float away._

_Michael slept soundly, his back to his mother. Quietly, she began humming under her breath, a simple soft_ _lullaby_ _to keep them asleep, to believe all was well if they should stir. Asleep, they were weak and couldn't hurt her as they had others. It was for the best._

_As the twins' mother stood over her son and raised her knife to strike, a pair of pale blue eyes shot open._   _Claudia_ _turned her head and her eyes met her mother's, saw the knife in her hand. Icy blue trained on hazel then closed, and when they opened to the world again, they were glossed over with a strange, pure whiteness._

_Charles_ _Valek_ _woke up from his bed and ran when he heard the humming turn into a shriek that ripped through the air with the speed of a snap of the fingers, the blink of an eye. As he ran into the room, his heart stopped beating, his mouth falling open._

_Vivian_ _Valek_ _was burning. Flames engulfed the woman rapidly and began to spread from her onto the walls and ceiling. Her screams were filled with pain and fear, deep and brutal as her frantic movements made her arms appear like wings, flaming wings. Except Vivian_ _Valek_ _was not going to heaven._

 

_Hideo_ _Tanaka_ _drove in the dark of night, the radio blaring rock music to keep the silence from getting to him. It was long past midnight, and he knew his parents would_ slaughter  _him if he got caught entering the house, especially if they knew what he was out for. Well, he considered it a worthy sacrifice in exchange for his research. As long as he didn't die before discovering the answer to his questions, his parents could do whatever they wanted to him._

_After all, he'd already claimed the role of family disappointment; what more could they do to him at this point? His parents' words stopped hurting him long ago, and he'd become immune to his older sister's constant lectures of how he was throwing away his life and future with his habits. And most important, at this point he'd become immune to their judgement. Their judgement at every single one of his life choices, his interests, his passion and research. Enduring it throughout his whole life helped him develop a thick skin._

_He had forgone any effort on his part once his parents made it very clear he would never be enough for them. If everyone else had a firm image in their mind of who they thought he was, why fight it?_

_What else could the world throw at him?_

_Speak of the devil. As he passed by the_ _Valek_ _house, a blue-painted building with white trim and a variety of flowers planted in the front yard and in boxes by the front  windows, a house Hideo knew well, he turned to the open window to flick out his cigarette and did a double-take when he caught the flames flickering and surrounding the building. His eyes widened and he slammed on the brakes._

_The minute the car came to a full stop, he cut the engine and jumped out the car, crushing the lit cigarette under his boot as he rushed down the hill leading to the Valek house. He had done some work for the parents back in the day; the Valeks had given him menial jobs around the house when he needed the money with graduation next month, let him babysit the twins when they were between nannies, he knew the kids and he knew the parents to be nice people. He may not know any of them very well, and the father had stopped letting Hideo watch the children after the last incident with the fourth nanny they had (an incident Hideo suspected was anything but an accident), but he_ knew _them._

_By the time he got there, the flames had devoured the building, and he took out his phone to dial, even though he knew if anyone had been in there, if anyone had been alive inside, they certainly weren't now as the fire spread, eating up anything in its path. The least help could do at the moment was keep the fire tame and at bay._

_Just before he dialed the final number, he caught the shape of two small, dark silhouettes against the brightness of the flames. They stood side by side, clutching each other's hands, simply...standing. Standing in place and staring on at the destruction ravaging their home._

_Well,_ _Hideo_ _didn't think that so odd; he had seen the reaction of others to death. Some people shut down, became numb, until they were either forced to accept it or accepted it in time (sometimes never). Perhaps that was what was happening now._

_He started toward them when a spot of coldness landed on his cheek. It melted on contact and he blinked, lifting a hand to the area. Turning his face upwards, his mouth dropped open._

_Snow fell around him and the two children standing in the light of a burning house. Soft whiteness swirled as they fell delicately and gently._ _Hideo's_ _lips parted but no words came out, speechless with the impossibility falling around them. Snow in the summer? Fire and snow in the place, on the same night, and at the same time._

_People believed_   _Hideo_ _to be paranoid, that he saw the worst in places where it wasn't, but he believed he was simply seeing the true nature of things and was more willing to accept it as he was at this moment. A class poem came to mind as he stared on at the abnormality. Then he shook his head, deciding to focus on the matter at hand, and made his way down to the two small children watching their house burn._

_"Are you two okay?" he asked, grabbing hold of Michael's shoulders and turning him around, his sister turning with him and pulled with the grip she had on his hand. His heart stopped at the sight meeting him. It stunned him, the sight of two pairs of pure white eyes that appeared so abnormal yet not quite frightening either. Each blinked, the strange whiteness blanketing their eyes disappeared once they reopened._

_"Don't worry."_ _Claudia_ _spoke in a light, airy voice. "Mommy and Daddy did something bad. They needed to be punished." She spoke not with grief, not shock, nor any emotion in general, only as if reciting a simple fact to a teacher. Then something in both her face and voice darkened as she said, "They_ had _to be punished."_

_Snow continued to fall till the ground around them was covered with a fine powder of pure, innocent whiteness. Innocence in the presence of destruction. Snow and fire in the same place at the same time. Both could bring pain and death if they so wished, yet it seemed only one had that goal in mind tonight._

_By the time Hideo had called and people came, attempting to save the adult Valeks, they were already gone. Gone in a blazing glory, a column of fire that stripped both of all life and flesh. Faces gathered were paralyzed in shock, but the twins' didn't change. Michael's seemed solely lost, as if he wasn't sure where he was nor what was happening. But a sick feeling curled over_ _Hideo_ _Tanaka_ _then, as he noted the ghost of a triumphant smile hidden in the corner of_ _Claudia_   _Valek's_ _mouth. It was not just the smile of triumph, but justice and glory._

_Claudia_ _had made Vivian and Charles_ _Valek_ _hurt just as they were prepared to do to her brother, but tenfold._

_The entire time neither twin had released each other's hands. Unbeknownst to most but not to_   _Hideo_ _Tanaka_   _with his attentive eyes, after that day,_ _Claudia_ _grew even more attached to her brother, dangerously attached. And so did Michael to her._

_A thick scent hung in the air that night right beside the terror and grief. The scent was robust and the panic, the anguish, the raw fear of the gathering crowd was something that_ _Claudia_ _Valek_ _did relish in._

* * *

Cigarette smoke puffed around the man like little storm clouds coming out of a snorkel. He closed his eyes, and took the cigarette out of his mouth, exhaling and polluting the room. He opened his eyes and stared around the kitchen of his home, at the nearly empty fridge (not hungry), at the peeling wallpaper ( _boring_ ), and at the home phone attached to the wall, where a thin layer of dust was collecting (no one ever called), and finally resting on the board on the wall. On it were pinned multiple photos, paper scraps, newspaper articles, small hastily scribbled notes, pieces of string connected between those he believed to be related in some way or form.

Hideo Takana noticed things. That much was clear. Noticed things he felt almost no one else did or wanted to in Moonshadow Haven. And there were just...too many coincidences, too many incidents, for it to be simply nothing. Yet almost every time he seemed to get close to the root of it, he either ran into a dead end or  _something_ , something he wasn't quite sure of, attacked him. He'd taken to keeping a gun around the house now. It strengthened his idea that there was indeed something amiss in this town.

And whoever or whatever was the grand spider working the strings of this web, they certainly didn't want him knowing that.

His mind went back to that night ten years ago as he pinned up a poem aside the picture he took that night once he was assured the Valek twins were alright, taking it with his camera before anyone could put out the fire or before the snow could stop falling and melt. For a second, he was back in that moment. His nose filled with the scent of the fury radiating from the fire and the sweet yet burnt smoke, see the flames lick every spot and scorch the house until there was little left but charred wood and ash.

The deaths of Vivian and Charles Valek had been a case many had given up on. The house burning had been ruled a tragic accident, but Hideo did not believe it to be an accident. Not in the slightest. The man had endured some over the years because he refused to let the thread of "accidents" and "coincidences" die, ridicule and several months in the local sanitarium (compliments of his oh-so-loving parents, who wouldn't believe him when he tried to explain) being just a couple to name. But he had to finish this puzzle, or no one else would. Even if nobody else could sense it or accept the truth, he knew, he had known ever since he was young something about the town just...didn't feel right. An ominous aura would fill the air and Hideo had always managed to feel it, causing him to look over his shoulder as he walked even when all seemed safe or watch certain neighbors warily out the corner of his although no one had a hint of suspicion about them.

And it was that night ten years ago a month before he was meant to graduate high school that it all clicked together for him. If it hadn't been evidence then that something was lurking beneath the surface of what they knew, he didn't know what was. That was when he started to shift his focus to a new set of research, scouring the internet for similar incidences in his town from the past, searching through newspapers for oddities that couldn't be explained yet were not looked into.

Deep down, Hideo had a divided heart. He believed that the Valek twins had killed their parents in a column of fire that had ripped at the night sky ten years ago. Or at least one of them did. Two twins. Snow and fire. Fire and ice. His eyes darted to the poem beside the picture again. Two children staring at the destruction of their, house, of their parents.

Hideo's heart was divided because one half felt pity and worry for two children—teens now, he mustn't forget—who had no say in what they were or maybe had no control over what they were doing. That half remembered the six-year-olds Hideo used to babysit. The other half, however, was riddled with fear, guilt, shame, and above all, concern, as it saw the twins as what they were. Because if either Michael or Claudia had killed their parents by whatever magic, that meant they were killers.

Killers. Murderers. Demons. Monsters.

The sympathetic half tried to convince the other that just was possible if one did start the fire, it may have an accident.

In his mind, Hideo didn't want to believe there was something something evil within those kids, not after the time he spent with them when they were younger. But he knows what he saw that night. The strange whiteness of their eyes. And then there was that smile. That triumphant, unnerving smile. Hideo nearly shuddered thinking about it.

He would not let this get away from him. His sister sent him money time to time but she never called, never visited or brought his niece over, not anymore, not after the last blow-up between them. As always she was insisting she knew what was best for him and telling him how to run his own life, and long story short, he got sick of it. They hadn't spoken once since. She'd sent letters. He'd never opened a single one. She would never understand anyway, he didn't need her.

At this thought, the phone on the wall rang. (Speak of the devil.) He turned his gaze away from the board. He supposed he had no other choice but to answer it or let it go to voicemail. And even then whoever it was wouldn't leave him alone until he answered, so he took one last drag from his cigarette before putting it out in the ash tray.

He made his way to the landline that hardly got a signal and picked the phone up on the third ring, putting the device to his ear as he played with the cord. "Y'ello?"

"Hideo? Is that you?"

He nearly choked on the smoke at the sound of his sister's voice. "Mai?"

"Listen, I need to ask—"

"Well, well, well," he said, forcing back the sneer. "Look who's finally decided to call!"

"Hideo, I know we've had our differences—" she ignored his scoff—"but I need to ask you a favor," his older sister began. "Don't think I called just because I missed you."

"Really?" He didn't hold back the snark this time. "I'm flattered by your love for me," he said flatly.

A sigh. (The expected response. How  _Mai._ ) "I don't know what to say to that, and I'm probably the last person you want to talk to after.... But at least hear me out. Sorry about the short notice, but I might as well... My daughter's staying over at your house for the summer."

This time, Hideo really did choke. He took a couple of deep breaths before picking up the receiver that banged against the wall in his fit. "D-daughter?" He tried not to sound more nervous than the idea made him feel, and suddenly regretted putting out his cigarette as he felt he needed it now to ease his nerves. "You mean to tell me you literally haven't talked to me for seven years—Seven years, Mai!—and now out of the blue you call just so you can shove your kid off on me? What the hell?"

"Dean and I have more than a few business trips to go on this summer and everyone else is busy," huffed Mai. "I know it's a lot to ask, but I thought it would be a great opportunity for her to get to know her uncle."

"You sure you want her near the family loon?" Hideo snapped. She went silent after that for a while, long enough that he would have thought she hung up if she didn't speak again before he did.

"I did not call to fight," she uttered through what sounded like gritted teeth as if it were taking every ounce of effort not to lose her composure. "Don't you want to know her, too?"

"No."

Not only had he not spoken to his sister, but he hadn't spoken to his sister's side of the family since the argument. It honestly hadn't plagued his mind in the slightest of being absent in his niece's life. If what his sister said was true about him, then she was better off without her uncle, right?

Besides, if his hunches were correct, and he knew they were because regardless of what anyone else said, he was _not_  crazy, then Moonshadow Haven was not a safe place he'd want her anywhere near.

"Too bad." Mai gave a long tired sigh that Hideo knew had been reserved specifically for him. "I'm not your enemy right now. Can you not fight me for two seconds?"

Hideo rolled his eyes to himself. "You—" He took a deep breath and counted to ten, his free hand clenching and unclenching into a first. "You know what, fine, you want to play nice, I'll try. As long as Suna behaves, we shouldn't have any problems. My house, my rules."

"Okay." Mai's voice brightened considerably once her brother agreed to a compromise instead of a refusal to budge (for once). "I hope you won't mind her, she's a bit of a handful, she's almost as bad as you were at that age, but I bet you'll like her."

"If that bet involves money, I'll take you up that," he frowned. Last time he'd seen his niece she was still drawing the sun as if it were a smiley circle and not a fiery ball of death that would someday destroy everything. He could hardly handle children, now he was supposed to keep a teenager out of trouble for the summer? "Anything else I should know?" he said, sarcasm dripping from every word. "You know since you seem to have everything planned out except the part where you  _ask_  me?"

"Well...."

" _What_?"

"You might have to prepare for two kids, actually," stated the disembodied voice on the phone slowly, likely prepared to yank the phone away from her ear to protect it once her words registered – and before Hideo could process, she went on. "Her friend practically already lives with us, and she—well, we both agree we're not sure it's a good idea for him to stay home alone with his family situation."

Hideo fought the urge to light another cigarette and take a smoke before taking a deep breath and counting to ten. "So you expect me to take care of a few kids for the summer? What, am I gonna have to start a daycare now?" he snapped.

"Be glad it's just the summer, Hideo," Mai scolded. "And trust me, Suna might be a problem, but Angel is always on his best behavior. Never gets into any trouble and I'm sure sure he's the reason I've never had to pay bail for Suna."

He sighed, rubbing his temples. "How soon are they coming over?"

"Next week, Saturday." Hideo wedged the phone between his head and his shoulder to look at the calendar from across the room, then around the mess and clutter that was his home. Should have enough time to clean up.

"So, when exactly do I get paid for this?"

"Very funny. Can you hear me laughing?"

"No, seriously." He breathed out a long sigh. "Tell me this'll be worth it in the end."

"It will. Just promise me one thing. One condition and maybe we can put all this behind us." Mai's voice sounded hopeful. "Even if you still won't talk to Mom and Dad, maybe we can...start seeing each other again. I do miss you a bit, and I hope that this can be the first step to fixing things." Her voice changed. "Just... promise me."

Hideo's expression softened and he ran a hand through his hair, thinking it through. "Hmm?" he hummed, not sure what to expect.

"Don't feed her any of your crazy conspiracies." Hideo paused. Million things ran through his mind all in a split second. "I'm serious, I still love you, Hideo, I do, but I do not want to hear a  _single word_  about any of your insane conspiracy theories. Not from you and definitely not from her."

Hideo blinked and snapped out of his reverie. Almost instantly, he responded. "Of course, sure. But if they have any brains, don't expect they won't find out on their own."

" _Hideo_."

"Alright, alright!" He forced a last smile. "You have my word, nothing freaky will happen to the kids, I promise."

"Alright then, Hideo. I trust you." With that, the disembodied voice of his sister turned into the beep of a heart monitor telling everyone the person was a dead man. Hideo did not like that sound. He turned around, hanging the receiver back into place, and stared again at the calendar. 

He really needed a smoke. He grabbed another cigarette from the pack in his pocket and took out a lighter. He flipped it open and dipped the cigarette in the flames, the tip turning amber. Then he took the cigarette between his two fingers and took a long drag, his nerves easing up, before turning to his board filled with each theory he had about Moonshadow Haven.

Grabbing his cell phone, he took a quick picture so he would not forget one detail, then began to take everything down. He would have to move it to another room, out of sight for anyone to see when they walked in. He had about a week, he could rearrange everything once he was done and surely before his niece and her little friend got here. And who knows, maybe in repinning everything, he'd catch a detail he hadn't before.

As he moved to take down the photo of that night ten years ago, his eyes wandered to the poem beside it and was immediately reminded of the Valek twins. He mouth the first sentence under his breath as he took out his cigarette.

_Some say the world will end in fire,_ _Some say in ice._

He promised he would keep his niece out of his crazy theories, and he would. And he knew safe was not a word he could associate with Claudia Valek and her brother. But he would make sure those two demons stayed away from the newcomers of Moonshadow Haven.


End file.
